02:33 - VIGJust sayin' I remember nikarg's Sodom review on the front page, that album was like 30 years old

02:27 - ScreamingSteelUSTechnically, Che's Manunkind review was too old to be featured on the front page. That was a special exception; usually, we prefer to keep our reviews within three-to-four months, with six months as an absolute cutoff.

02:14 - VIG@Radu Of course! I don't think it's too old to be featured on the front page. Look at Che's Manunkind review

00:09 - RaduPPublished a review for an album that's a bit too old to be featured on the front page, but you guys will read it, right? [link]

Exceedingly creative people who embody the very definitions of "artist" are never predictable. Neither can the inherent beauty of their creations be classified. Welcome to the bizarre world of Finland's ...and Oceans, where song titles boast up to 62 characters, where everything runs in the opposite direction, and where life never gets boring.

While their name has nothing to do with nature, it speaks to the band's natural affinity for thoughts and colors, and the ellipsis symbolizes the preface before everything, before existence, before time, before darkness, before silence, before sound. Formed in 1995 by members of death metallers Festerday and Black Dawn (who wanted to further their reputation as an eccentric metal band), ...and Oceans debuted in 1998 with the Season Of Mist release The Dynamic Gallery Of Thoughts, and then one year later, charted their transitional period with The Symmetry Of I - The Circle Of O. Following the release of their Century Media debut with 2001's Allotropic/Metamorphic-Genesis Of Dimorphism (produced by Tommy Tägtgren [Marduk, The Forsaken, Dark Funeral] at the Abyss B Studio and featuring artwork by Dark Tranquillity's Niklas Sundin), the band toured Europe with Marduk, Vader, and Mortician, leaving lasting impressions due to the nature of their unique stage shows.

As musicians who have never feared working with sounds and styles that aren't usually associated with metal, the band have long-since transitioned out of their black/death metal sound to avoid stagnation. By continually pushing the imposed boundaries of the musical community they reside in, they champion the message of the need and reward in exploring the world with new eyes. This latest offering, Cypher, is an oasis of imagination, born of combined creative streaks that are a retreat for those who thirst for the unusual. Recorded once again at Abyss B Studio with Tommy Tägtgren, Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles has accurately observed that "...and Oceans have always been about five steps sideways of the black metal scene, living life as an over-the-top cerebral bastard child that no one quite knew how to categorize. Cypher is as strange and twisted as ever."

For as many different ways the permutations of sound can be assembled, there exist that many rules that can be broken. ...and Oceans are, by virtue of their creativity and talent, musical rioters always seeking to overthrow all known rules.